cheeseburgers on the 4th of july
by hailingstars
Summary: Peter blows himself up trying to make Iron Man fireworks, and years later, Tony makes good on a promise he made Peter before the snap.


**July 4th – before Thanos' snap**

Mr. Stark didn't like what Peter was doing.

It was obvious, but until he explicitly ordered him to stop, Peter was happy to keep going until he had a finished product. Besides, once it was done and lighting up the sky, Mr. Stark would be too much in awe to wallow around in his usual anxiety and disappointment.

Mr. Stark had just chosen the wrong time to check on him in the lab and walked in when he had been in the middle of putting out a fire. He felt the man's eyes on him as he'd sprayed down flames with the fire extinguisher, his lab safety googles still covering his eyes.

"That's it," said Mr. Stark, once the flames had disappeared, and once Peter had dropped the fire extinguisher. "You're done."

"Come on, Mr. Stark – it was just a small fire."

"What you're doing is probably illegal," he told him.

Peter grinned and titled his head. "What, you're going to send me to jail?"

"Yep," said Mr. Stark. "And if you blow up my lab, I'll ship you off to the raft."

"Empty threats."

"Yeah we'll see…"

Mr. Stark had turned, and left Peter alone in the lab again, and that had been open invitation to keep doing what he was doing and not pay attention to his order to stop. He should've, though, because it had been only a few minutes after Mr. Stark left the lab that Peter mixed the wrong substance with the really wrong substance.

His world had gone white, and when it came back, every one of his muscles ached.

He blinked his eyes open. He was in one of the medical rooms at the compound. He knew those rooms too well, but it was the first time he'd ever woken up and saw Mr. Stark sitting in the chair by his bed.

Anxiety and worry were gone. They were replaced with worry and grief.

"Mr. Stt st – ark," Peter barely managed to rasp the words out, and they were just a tiny sound, but they were still heard.

Mr. Stark scooted the chair closer to the bed, took one of his hands, and squeezed. "No talking yet, kid."

Maybe it was the drugs, but Peter could've sworn there were tears in his eyes. He nodded, didn't try anymore talking, and within a few minutes, drifted back off to sleep.

The next time he woke up it was to the sound of a loud bang. His muscles were less achy. He felt more alert.

His voice worked at least, and it was loud enough to wake up Mr. Stark, who'd, at some point, fallen asleep in chair, with his feet propped up on Peter's bed.

More noise from outside the window boomed through Peter's ears.

"Mr. Stark," said Peter. "What's that sound?"

"Fireworks," he answered, rubbing his eyes. "It's the 4th."

"I'm missing it?"

" 'fraid so kid," said Mr. Stark. "And you're lucky you're just missing _this one_. You almost died, we almost lost you, and for what? What were you thinking?"

"That you wanted Iron Man fireworks in the sky for once." The answer came off his lips easily. It was truth, and Peter was too loopy from drugs to hide it.

"What?"

"I overheard you complaining to Mr. America about how there's always Captain America fireworks and Iron Patriot fireworks but Iron Man always gets left out, so I just figured I'd change that."

Mr. Stark's face went through several transformations as he digusted Peter's words. His mouth opened several times, only to shut again, only for his hand to rest over his face as he released a long sigh.

"Okay first of all, if you keep calling him Mr. America, people are going to think he's entered in to become the next Miss America Miss, and it's _War Machine_. My suit, I get to name him." Mr. Stark's eyes stopped darting around the room and landed on Peter. "I'm not worth blowing yourself up for kid."

"Of course y –"

"Promise me you won't do that again," said Mr. Stark. There was something in his eyes, something more desperate than fear. "Promise me you won't go into the lab without supervision."

"I promise," said Peter, with no hesitation, because Mr. Stark sounded like his life depended on him giving his word.

"You really had me worried. I thought, I thought I'd lost you."

Another firework crackled outside, and the boom was so loud, lasted so long, Peter imagined it had been a fantastic one. Imagine was the best he could do, because he wouldn't be seeing fireworks that year. Not as long as he was stuck in that bed. His eyes drifted towards the window, as if he might be able to catch a glimpse.

"Don't worry about it, kid," said Mr. Stark. "There's always next year. Next year I'll take you to see the good ones."

**July 4th – 5 Years Later - After Tony's snap to save the universe**

Mosquitos bit at Peter's legs as he followed his family out into a large, empty field.

Pepper and Tony led them, with Morgan sitting high up on Tony's shoulders as they marched on, but Peter was intention in his efforts to stay in front of May and Happy. They had the habit of being gross. Beside him, Nebula carried a cooler, and on his other side, Rhodey held a giant brown paper bag, damp with grease on the outside, filled to the brim with cheeseburgers on the inside.

Peter's spider strength meant he got saddled with everything else. He was a mule that had six fold-up chairs strapped to his back, along with a backpack filled blankets.

Another insect bit at the back of his leg, and that one stung, pinched so bad he almost lost balance and toppled over.

"Do you guys think I'm allergic to bug spray?" asked Peter, his voice coming out annoyed as he straightened himself back up.

Rhodey laughed, and Tony stopped, turned, and looked at him. Morgan peered down, too, from the top of dad tower.

"You've been a human spider for how long and we haven't figured this out yet?"

"I just assumed pesticides weren't my friends, but I'm getting eaten up. Why are we coming all the way out here again?"

"It has the best view," said Tony. "But this should be a good enough spot to stop and make camp."

Peter immediately shrugged out of the chairs and the bag and let them fall to the ground. Morgan, having been lifted off Tony's shoulders went straight for the bag Peter was quick to discard and pulled out a blanket. Her favorite blanket. Her Spider-Man blanket.

Peter looked around the wide, open field. It was pretty empty, but they could see straight up into the sky. It did seem perfect, even if Peter had serious questions about where the fireworks were being lit off in the first place. He could at least take comfort in the fact that Nebula was more confused than he was.

"Humans have the strangest rituals," she said. "It is common to stand around in empty fields for celebrations?"

"Only when we're blowing each other up with fireworks," said Rhodey.

Morgan finished lying her blanket out on the ground and looked up at Pepper. "Why are we watching fireworks, anyway?"

Peter had been warned. She didn't like fireworks. She thought they were too noisy and spent the last couple of 4ths screaming at them to shut up.

"It's the 4th of July," answered Pepper. "We're celebrating freedom and independence."

"I thought we were celebrating cheeseburgers," she said, with a frown.

That was a fair assumption.

Cheeseburgers were passed out after they set up the chairs and took out more blankets to lay out all around. They ate their dinner as the sun went down, and as they chatted, Peter understood they were celebrating more than just freedom or independence or even cheeseburgers.

They were celebrating because they were all eating cheeseburgers together, under the same sky. Thanos had lost. They had won, and they were alive.

Peter knew the fireworks were about to start when Tony pulled Morgan closer to him. He moved closer to both of them, too, out of instinct, and because they were the only three still sitting on the blankets instead of the chairs.

When the fireworks started, Peter saw Morgan tense up against Tony, but then relax, as a beautiful display of lights splattered across the sky. Red. Blue. They exploded in the form of a spider.

"Dad!" said Morgan, she pointed up to the sky. "Just like Spider-Man!"

"Yeah," said Tony, looking sideways at Peter. "How about that."

"Tony, how did you - ?"

"I told you, kid. I was going to take you to see the good ones."

He remembered when Tony told him that, remembered being miserable in a hospital bed. It felt like last year for him, but for Tony, it'd been five.

"Just thought you should know," he continued, "You're worth blowing myself up for."

Peter grinned at the inside joke, while another blue and red firework lit up the sky, and Rhodey complained about favoritism. He wasn't wrong. Tony and Morgan Stark choose their favorite super-hero and it was without a doubt Spider-Man.

"Thanks, Tony," said Peter. He scooted even closer to him and Morgan, and Tony put his arm around him as they continued watching the show. They were together, they were alive, they had cheeseburgers.

* * *

Happy 4th! if you're celebrate!


End file.
